More frequently, optical input/output (I/O) is being used in computer systems to transmit data between system components. Optical I/O is able to attain higher system bandwidth with lower electromagnetic interference than conventional I/O methods. In order to implement optical I/O, radiant energy is coupled from an external waveguide to a waveguide on an integrated circuit (IC). However, a problem occurs in aligning the external and IC waveguides while at the same time achieving good coupling efficiency. In addition, current mechanisms used to couple waveguides suffer from significant costs for high-volume manufacturing due to the limitations of active alignment.